Charles Colville

Charles Colville (7 August 1770-27 March 1843) was a General in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He notably commanded a brigade in the Duke of Wellington's army during the Peninsular War and the Hundred Days campaign.

Biography
Charles Colville was born in 1770 to a family of Scottish peers, and he entered the British Army in 1787 with the rank of Lieutenant. He served in Hispaniola with the 13th Somersetshire Light Infantry, and he commanded the regiment during the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and in the expeditions to Ferrol (a Spanish port) and Egypt. In 1805, he was promoted to colonel, and he became a Brigadier-General in 1809 before commanding the 2nd brigade of George Prevost's division in the capture of Martinique.

Brigade commander
In 1810, Colville was promoted to Major-General and given command of a brigade during the Peninsular War, losing a finger of his right hand during the Siege of Badajoz in 1812. He was also slightly wounded at the Battle of Vitoria. In 1814, following the Battle of Bayonne, he supervised the embarkation of thhe last British troops left in France. In 1815, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General and given command of the 4th Division in the Duke of Wellington's army in the Netherlands, and he commanded the extreme right of the British division at Halle during the Battle of Waterloo. He attempted to convince Imperial Guard commander Pierre Cambronne to surrender, but Cambronne responded by shouting "Merde!" (meaning "shit", figuratively "go to hell", in French), and the British annihilated the Imperial Guard with grapeshot. Colville also stormed the French fortress of Cambrai with a loss of thirty men killed or wounded.

Postwar career
In 1819, his promotion to Lieutenant-General was confirmed, and he commanded the Bombay Army from 1819 to 1825. From 1828 to 1833, he served as Governor of Mauritius, and he was promoted to General in 1837. He died in Hampstead in 1843 at the age of 72.